NEW WESTMINSTER, B.C. - The deeply troubled, drug-addled life of the star witness in the Robert Pickton murder trial was laid bare Wednesday, with Lynn Ellingsen admitting she lied about being assaulted by a recent boyfriend.
Ellingsen also agreed with a suggestion by defence lawyer Richard Brooks that she concocted the story because she was in a crack-induced psychosis.
The woman, who has admitted she is an alcoholic and crack cocaine addict, has testified she saw Pickton butchering a woman one night in his pig slaughterhouse. Her testimony is crucial to the Crown because she is the only witness to testify to seeing Pickton with a body.
The defence has been attacking her memory in a withering cross-examination expected to last several days.
Pickton is charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Marnie Frey, Andrea Joesbury, Brenda Wolfe, Mona Wilson, Georgina Papin and Sereena Abotsway.
The defence asked Ellingsen Wednesday about an incident earlier this month when she went to the Crown office in Abbotsford to talk about some charges she had laid against a man in March and April this year.
"I explained to the lady (at the registry) that alcohol and drugs were involved,'' Ellingsen testified. "I had hit him and I wanted no charges laid.''
She also admitted earlier in her testimony that she had been using crack as recently as two weeks ago.
"He spent two months in custody,'' Brooks reminded Ellingsen. She agreed.
"You told the Crown that you were the aggressor in the incident and that (the boyfriend) was innocent,'' said Brooks.
"I have a history of getting into fights in my time,'' she said.
Brooks asked her about her statement to the Crown that she was in a "crack-induced psychosis.''
"I'm an addict, not a doctor,'' she replied.
Brooks suggested that on the morning the man's trial was supposed to begin earlier this month "you told the Crown you were in a condition of induced psychosis.''
She said addicts often use the term "psychosis'' but it "doesn't sound like me to talk like that. There are many different opinions on what psychosis means.''
Run-ins with police
Ellingsen has admitted she was smoking crack cocaine the night she says she saw Pickton butcher a woman but she has also testified that the drug does not make her hallucinate.
Much of the morning in court was spent focusing on Ellingsen's extensive list of run-ins with people and police.
But the 37-year-old woman's recollection of many of the events was minimal -- apparently lost in the haze of alcohol and crack that began when she was in her early 20s.
Brooks asked about her criminal record and other dealings with the police, including two convictions over the past 15 years. Ellingsen admitted she'd been in the drunk tank many times and had had "several police contacts.''
She was asked about one incident when both she and her mother were intoxicated and got into an argument over custody of Ellingsen's son.
That was one of the few she could recall.
The encounters that led to police responding -- more than 20 -- included calls made by other people who told police that Ellingsen was threatening them and calls about alleged assaults and domestic disturbances.
She admitted that she has on more than one occasion -- and as recently as last December -- ripped off prostitution customers by luring a man on a chatline then taking the money without sexual services.
Ellingsen and Brooks had a long, confusing debate about the effects of alcohol and crack cocaine combined, as compared to doing one or the other only.
"Alcohol is a blackout drug,'' Ellingsen explained, as Pickton sat in the prisoner's box, mostly looking down but sometimes looking at her.
"Cocaine just numbs pain. I use it like people use prescription drugs from a doctor.''
Brooks persisted in asking her about the difference between taking alcohol and crack together as opposed to doing one only.
"Crack overpowers alcohol . . . I'm not sure what you're asking.''
She admitted earlier that she had been drinking and smoking crack the night of the alleged slaughterhouse incident.
"Alcohol is an aggressive drug and coke you are calm and relaxed.''
Ellingsen was not asked directly by the Crown when the alleged slaughterhouse incident occurred but she said she had the first two of many police interviews in 1999 and that was after the incident.
